Somatostatin Receptors in Malignancies and Other Pathologies

Somatostatin receptors are widely expressed in endocrine and nonendocrine tissues, as well as in corresponding neoplastic and nonneoplastic diseases. With special reference to malignancies, their expression is rather heterogeneous among different cases and within individual lesions in terms of receptor subtypes and density of expression; thus, their determination at the tissue level might be complementary to in vivo imaging to define the best strategy to target them as a therapeutic modality. The advent of novel molecules capable to bind a wider range of receptor subtypes including heterodimers formed with other transmembrane receptors needs a revisitation and an implementation of the data on somatostatin receptor expression currently available.